Smooth Aster Aster laevis

Size: 30-90 cm (1-3 ft.).

Leaves and Flowers: Leaves are up to 10 cm (4 in.) long, lance-shaped, smooth, and blue-green in color.

Flowers are 2-3 cm (3/4-1"), composite with numerous, 15-30, violet or blue heads. It blooms early September to early October.

Habitat: Dry-moist prairie and woodlands.

Range: Maine to Saskatchewan and south to Kansas, Louisiana, and Georgia.

Use: The Mesquakie (Fox) put the Smooth Aster on hot rocks of the steam baths to furnish an invigorating steam. Another use was to revive a person who was so ill they became unconscious. The smooth aster was burned and the smoke would be funneled into the nostrils by using a bark cone placed under the nose. Other groups used it to relieve congestion and clean wounds.